Mendoza voted best city in South America!

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Mendoza blog pic 150x150 Mendoza voted best city in South America!

A view of the city of Mendoza - check out the back drop!

The prestigious New7Wonders Cities contest finalised its first stage in March and Mendoza was voted best city in South America! 900 cities worldwide were left behind and Mendoza is now shortlisted in a group of 300 cities for the next stage of the competition.

After the selection of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and the recently chosen Seven Wonders of Nature, the creators of New7Wonders went ahead with a new global competition: the search for the seven most wonderful cities in the world.

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The Weekly Question – which experiences would you recommend to Work the World students going on placement this year?

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Here we go with another Weekly Question blog including feedback from students on placement in Africa, Asia and South America right now!

Your overseas placement with Work the World will be an invaluable learning experience which develops your skills, confidence and knowledge in your chosen discipline, but it can’t be all work and no play! Doing your elective placement abroad should also be an amazing travel adventure you’ll never forget.

This week we asked students in each of our houses “which experiences would you suggest to Work the World students going on placement this year?”

wine tour mendoza1 150x150 The Weekly Question   which experiences would you recommend to Work the World students going on placement this year?

Enjoying some Malbec!

In Argentina one of the top suggestions was hiring a two person bike and doing a wine tour. Ewa, James and Aurore who’ve all been on placement in Mendoza for a few weeks now said they would recommend that anyone going to Mendoza hires a two person bike and cycles their way around the vineyards of the region. We couldn’t work out whether it was for the beautiful scenery or the yummy Malbec!

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The Weekly Question – how do you feel about safety and security on placement?

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Very often students and their parents (OK, more often the parents!) contact us with concerns about safety and security in the countries we work in. We know that venturing to lands unknown can be daunting and often you just don’t know what to expect. That’s why we’re here to give you all the info, advice and guidance you need before you set off and while you’re away!

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A stunning view on the Ghandruk trek, Nepal

Safety and security is of course a key priority for us too, which is why all of our destinations are in countries considered to be politically and economically stable by the Foreign Commonwealth Office.

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The Weekly Question – why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?

Friday, April 6th, 2012

It’s a fact of life; everyone likes to ‘big themselves up’ from time to time! And while we can go on until we’re blue in the face about why you should choose to do your overseas placement with Work the World, the best people to ask are those who did choose us and are on placement right now.

This week we asked students in each of our destinations “why did you choose to do your elective placement with Work the World?” Here are some of the responses…

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Students on placement in Mendoza, Argentina

In Argentina the leading answer was the opportunity for students to brush up on their Spanish with our fantastic week-long Intensive Spanish Course. Amanda Woods, a medical student from Alabama said “interacting with patients in a Spanish speaking company is definitely the best way to improve my Spanish…the programme has everything I was looking for.” Amanda also found us to be one of the only companies she researched offering placements in South America and to include the placement, accommodation, food and in-country support in the total cost.

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The Weekly Question – is your placement what you expected or full of surprises?

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Every week we send a key question about placements, destination or Work the World houses to the staff teams in each destination. They then ask the students currently on placement for their thoughts. It’s a great way for students to hear firsthand stories and read current feedback about their destination, as well as providing a good comparison for those still unsure of which Work the World programme to choose.

Preparing for an overseas placement might be a little daunting and you will probably find yourself trying to imagine what it will be like. You might wonder if you will see similarities between the environments you’re used to and the ones you’re going to. What will the noises, smells, sounds and people be like? This week we asked the students in the Work the World houses “is your placement what you expected or full of surprises?”

Dannika Buckley who is doing her medical placement at a paediatric hospital in Mendoza, Argentina said, “The biggest surprise is that they use a lot of similar charts to those used in England. I have also been surprised at how willing the doctors are to teach me.” Well it is often commented on that the staff our students work with in Argentina are incredibly warm and friendly!

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Why Ghana? Ops Manager Rob gives you his top 10 reasons!

Monday, March 26th, 2012
  1. Great rural healthcare placements – We have developed a brand new placement working with a mission hospital about 50 minutes from the house. There are 100 beds in total with 2 doctors, 12 nurses and around 90 outpatients a day, and the hospital can accommodate medical and nursing students. This is a unique opportunity to experience rural health issues, with the top ten cases including malaria, anameia, gynaecological conditions, joint pain, skin, vaginal discharge, hypertension, diabetes (and related illnesses) and gonorrhea. We can offer a 2-4 week placement in a range of departments including general wards, maternity, and surgical.
  2. Central Regional Hospital Cape Coast 43 150x150 Why Ghana? Ops Manager Rob gives you his top 10 reasons!

    HIV leaves many Ghanaian children orphaned

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Argentina’s Supreme Court rules for abortion

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

For many years women in Argentina have campaigned for the right to have an abortion, but as a predominantly Catholic country, doctors have only been legally able to perform the procedure on the mentally ill or where a woman’s health is at risk.

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Campaigners for abortion rights

Today the Supreme Court decriminalised abortion for all rape victims. The unprecedented move is a huge step for socially conservative Argentina, but a necessary one. The country has uncommonly high levels of unsafe “backstreet” abortions – with over 500,000 illegal abortions carried out each year. They are blamed for causing one in five of maternal deaths and many Work the World students have witnessed the repercussions of a badly performed procedure when the patients are admitted to hospital.

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The Weekly Question – What can you take to donate to the hospital?

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

The Weekly Question is back with a bang!

We’re often asked by students “what should I take with me to donate to the hospital?” so we thought who better to answer the question than the students currently on placement!

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Students and staff at a teaching hospital Mendoza

Martin, our new Mendoza Assistant Programme Manager, asked students on placement for their suggestions. Dannika Buckley, a fifth year medical student from Nottingham recommended ink for hospital printers and highlighted the need for a computer which allows staff and patients to view x-ray images. Australian student Sarah Freyberg noted that a portable ECG and a computer for research and publications would be useful too. Ok, so the last ones may be a little large for individual donations – it just depends on how successful your fundraising has been!

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Hiking in Cordon del Plata Mendoza, Argentina 12

Friday, March 9th, 2012

My penultimate week in Mendoza was a busy one – I had another new housemate, a British girl called Cristina arrived on Monday. She lives in Australia and has just finished her finals. She speaks perfect Spanish as her mum is from Spain, which has been very useful! We tried lots of new restaurants in the city for lunches and dinners, and bonded over an extensive wine tasting session icon smile Hiking in Cordon del Plata Mendoza, Argentina 12

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Fabulous views of Cordon del Plata

On Saturday we all went for lunch in Lujan with Jose. It was nice to catch up with her as she had stopped working for Work the World due to upcoming exams. After, I went to get a haircut and managed to correctly ask for the style I wanted. I was worried that I would end up with one of the mullets that seem to be so beloved by the Mendocino men!

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A new companion :) …Daniel is joined by Christine!

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

The big news of this week is that I finally have a companion in the house! Her name is Christine and she’s a dentist from Germany. She’s a genuinely lovely person and she speaks amazing English, and we even have sporadic attempts at German.

Christine did an intensive Spanish course this week, also with Work the World, which meant that after morning Spanish lessons she had various activities in the afternoon.

011111062109 300890 702697897845 222406985 6784662 945448438 n 150x150 A new companion :) …Daniel is joined by Christine!

Making empanadas

On Wednesday afternoon she had a cooking lesson with Jesi, making empanadas and alfajores. I have to admit that her empanadas were not the most attractive of the batch, but the filling was very tasty.

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